difference between assessor and appraiser

Why is there often a huge difference between what the Assessor says your property is worth and what an appraiser says maybe during a purchase or refinance? Let’s take a look below a some of the main distinctions and then consider a real life example of a property owner who has overpaid about $8,000 in property taxes in recent years because his assessment was simply too high. Ouch.

Assessor vs. Appraiser: An Assessor in California is required to have a certified appraiser’s license, but that doesn’t mean the value will be same as an appraiser coming out to your house during a refinance, purchase or other situation. Ultimately there is a huge value difference at times because the Assessor is establishing value for taxation purposes (and is bound by the protocols of tax code) and an independent fee appraiser is likely measuring the current market and is not doing anything related to taxation.

Overpaid $8,000 in Property Taxes: This case above is a striking example of one of the unfortunate byproducts of a mass appraisal process by the Assessor. This property owner’s assessment on his fourplex in Sacramento was accurate for a couple of years after purchasing around $300,000 in 2003, but as values tanked in the neighborhood, the assessed value simply remained too high above all other competitive sales. The sad result for the property owner has been about $8,000 in overpayment through the years. Unfortunately the owner cannot go back to dispute the previous years of assessment, but at least this year he is going to appeal his property taxes to hopefully bring the assessed value down from $325,000 to around $200,000 where it should be.

Disclaimer

First off, thank you for being here. Now let's get into the fine print. The material and information contained on this website is the copyrighted property of Ryan Lundquist and Lundquist Appraisal Company. Content on this website may not be reproduced or republished without prior written permission from Ryan Lundquist.

Please see my Sharing Policy on the navigation bar if you are interested in sharing portions of any content on this blog.

The information on this website is meant entirely for educational purposes and is not intended in any way to support an opinion of value for your appraisal needs or any sort of value conclusion for a loan, litigation, tax appeal or any other potential real estate or non-real estate purpose. The material found on this website is meant for casual reading only and is not intended for use in a court of law or any other legal use. Ryan will not appear in court in any capacity based on any information posted here. For more detailed market analysis to be used for an appraisal report or any appraisal-related purpose or valuation consulting, please contact Ryan at 916-595-3735 for more information.

There are no affiliate links on this blog, but there are three advertisements. Please do your homework before doing business with any advertisers as advertisements are not affiliated with this blog in any way. Two ads are located on the sidebar and one is at the bottom of each post. The ads earn a minor amount of revenue and are a simple reward for providing consistent original content to readers. If you think the ads interfere with your blog experience or the integrity of the blog somehow, let me know. I'm always open to feedback. Thank you again for being here.